ic Sounds Like a Sequel

[Raveled]

One of the hostages, rubbing at his back as it stood up, raised his hand. "I was a Navy pilot for seven years, ma'am," he said. "I've fired off Sidewinder missiles more than machine guns, but I know how to use them."

 

Another person, a woman with a tie-dye shirt, shrugged and stepped forward. "I'm in the National Guard," she said. "We don't use SMGs much, but..."

 

Tona turned as she stepped in front of Sam, positioning herself so that only her girlfriend would see the archer roll her eyes. "Maybe everyone should just go back to their cabins," she offered. "No one's going to get past us, and we've already cleared out the last couple of cars, so there shouldn't be anymore surprises coming behind us."

 

She stepped through the crowd of people still milling around and considered the problem of the dinosaur. She had climbing rope -- in a kit that was somewhere in the cargo compartment of the train. She carefully taped up the creature's muzzle, but the tape only gave her a couple of layers before it simply ran out. She considered the zipcuffs, but she wasn't convinced  that the powerful animal wouldn't be able to snap the plastic. Moreover, it could even hurt itself while it struggled. She thought for a long minute, then returned to the bar and started looking around underneath it. Tona ended up putting a tub full of fresh, white towels on the bar top, along with several folded table cloths. When she caught Sam's look she just shrugged. "Best option," she said.

[Blue Rose]

As Tona turns her back, Sam gives the two who might actually be able to defend these people a meaningful glance.  If they're up to the task, they'll do what they have to after they're gone.

 

The question of the dinosaur is more interesting.  "Gotta work with what you've got," she admits, not exactly comfortable with the table cloth solution.  "I'll see if I can't find something better."

 

She pokes around a bit.  If anyone can keep a dinosaur safely bound with just tablecloths, it's Tona, but she'd rather have something a little more trustworthy.  Maybe someone else had something useful in their vest?

 

If not... just gotta be fast, stop the train, and get animal control here or something.

[Raveled]

Sam's search turned up a couple rolls of athletic tape, and little else. Tona convinced the civilians to retreat to the sleeping cars, then weighed her options. After a long minute of thinking, she directed Sam to strip off the tactical webbing that each of the cultists was wearing. With the archer providing the muscle to lift the creature off the ground, she and Sam were able to wrap one vest around the dinosaur's jaw, used two more to pin its claws to its body, and used the last to bind its feet together. Tona went to work with the tableclothes and towels after that, ending up with something that looked either like a prehistoric mummy or a huge, knobby, albino snake.

 

The archer leaned back against the bar, looking down at her handiwork and taking the opportunity to catch her breath. "If that's not going to hold it, then nothing will," she said. "At the very least, it shouldn't be able to open the doors back to the rear cars." Her attention drifted away from the dinosaur to the bar, and the several mini-fridges underneath it. She had skipped dinner after all, but it felt somehow indecent to take a meal break in the middle of a crisis like this. A sudden rumble from her stomach decided the matter for her. "D'aller en enfer pour nous," she muttered, vaulting the bar and rummaging underneath. She was able to put a respectable cold sandwich together and perched on the bar, chewing her dinner while she watched the unconscious cultists.

 

"What do you think we should do," she asked Sam between bites. "If we keep going down the train like this we're going to run into more loonies and more monsters. But how else can we get up ahead?"

[Blue Rose]

Sam is rather more dubious of tablecloth-and-clothing-based dinosaur restraint, but it really isn't that much sillier than duct tape, and between the two of them, Tona is the expert on knot work, and she's more than willing to believe in Tona.  If she says it will hold, it will hold.  Probably.

 

If not, there will probably be something on Youtube about a dinosaur moth busting out and killing everyone in a couple hours.

 

But for now?  Lunch.  Sam slaps together a sandwich of her own from what's left of Tona's findings, and pulls two little mini bottles of water out of the fridge.  "I don't know; I think we should work lunch breaks into our crime fighting as just a regular thing.  Maybe pack a picnic basket.  You think the bad guys would take a break if we brought enough sandwiches for them, too?"

 

She scarfs her sandwich down with rather less table manners than usual for her, and even before Tona asks, she knows their next move.  "I have a way, and you know what it is, but you're not gonna like it.  Next turn we hit, we're gonna jump."

 

She knows Tona hates her teleportation, but sometimes, it's necessary.  And it's a much smoother ride than it used to be.  Or maybe she'd just gotten more used to it?  Either way, she hits the lights to give herself some shadows to jump from.  Then,  when the train turns, she takes Tona's hand and scans the cars further up for the closest shadows to the front she can spot.  When she's ready, she looks to Tona, meeting those beautiful eyes and giving her most reassuring smile, before they jump.

[Raveled]

Tona looked down at the remnants of the sandwich in her hand and put it down without a word. "I've seen you in action, Sam. If anyone could talk crazy dinosaur cult-terrorists into sitting down for coffee and bagels, it would be you." She checked her gauntlets again and stepped up close to Sam, gripping her girlfriend's hand tightly. "Probably still a few people left to punch, though."

 

She closed her eyes as the darkness folded around them and soon they were several cars up the train, in another passenger car. The lights were off on this one, leaving the dim, red glow of emergency lights near the ground as the only illumination. Someone had opened the doors, too, and several of the infected/transformed/changed passengers were in the corridor. Tona froze, but once she realized they weren't attacking she studied them closer. They all seemed... quiet. Quiescent, even. Almost turned off. A couple were staring out the window and one had wedged himself into a corner, staring at his feet; Tona felt goosebumps at the sight of so many people standing around brainlessly.

 

She glanced at Sam and shrugged, slow and exaggerated. "Maybe it's the light," she breathed, next to Sam's ear. Whatever it was Tona wasn't about to question her good fortune and crept forward, easily circling around and avoiding the few passengers still stumbling up and down the corridor. At the door to the next car she paused and looked through the window. The next car up wasn't nearly as well-appointed as the ones Sam and Tona had walked through even when they boarded the train; there was more exposed metal, and racks, and labeled switches. In the middle of this utilitarian space was a big man in a white suit, holding a phone up to his head. His back was to the door and he was gesturing grandly, but none of the sound was getting through to the passenger car. More pressing was the two huge, scaly monsters curled up at his feet like loyal hunting dogs.

[Blue Rose]

Whatever the reason, it's good they're not attacking.  She creeps forward with Tona, and comes up with a plan.

 

"I have an idea."  Always dangerous words.  "I think I can get through this door pretty quietly.  Wrestle down the big guy, and I'll take out the mind control thingy on one of the dinosaurs and have them fight each other.  Then, we can question him."

 

She starts poking and prodding at the door, checking for alarms and traps, and for anything that might make noise.  Little wisps of blue flame erase problem spots; she isn't worried about keeping the door in the best of shape.  Just getting to the other side without being noticed long enough for the two of them to get drop on them.

[Raveled]

There was a slow hiss as the blue flame broke the seal and Sam felt the pressure on the door break, and she was able to roll it back slowly, quietly. The rumble of the train covered that, and covered her creeping into the car. The man in the white suit kept his back to the door and Sam could hear his half of the conversation. "The chopper's waiting on the other side of the mountain. When we get through the tunnel, have the kid wrapped up and ready for the hook." He listened to something on the other line and continued. "I say leave the lizards, they'll slow up the cops. If we're lucky they'll eat the evidence." Another pause and, "Alright, alright, sorry. Just, get the kid ready. We shouldn't stick around longer than we need to."

 

The big beasts raised their heads as she approached, snuffling at her hand. One raised and dropped its tail, raised and dropped its tail, like a dog sixty million years out of time.